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On Thu, 2003-06-26 at 05:50, Jon Portnoy wrote: |
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> On Wed, Jun 25, 2003 at 11:24:50PM -0400, Owen Gunden wrote: |
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> > (cross posted to gentoo-user & gentoo-dev) |
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> > |
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> |
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> > |
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> > As far as I can tell gentoo is a for-profit company; does that mean my |
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> > money could just go straight into Gentoo Inc.'s profit margin? Is there |
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> > any way for me to make a donation that I am sure will get back to the |
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> > community? |
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> > |
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> |
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> Gentoo is going to go non-profit soon. |
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The last time I checked, it is non-profit. |
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The big problem however (which nobody really do seem to understand, |
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or want to for that matter), is that because we are small (is this |
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really a fact anymore?), we do not have dedicated long-term financial |
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backup (last time I checked anyhow). |
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Meaning, as long as I have been on the dev team (going/over 2 years |
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now?), everything that needed doing, was either paid for by Daniel, |
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or donated by one of the other devs. Sure, it have changed somewhat |
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in the last few months, but people like Daniel and Seemant, who |
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pretty much do this full time, had to scratch to get by. Also, some |
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of the other devs that is/was more key figures, that could not do |
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it full time, could only give so much time to Gentoo. |
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Gentoo Games was thus formed to (if I have all the facts straight) |
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in an attempt to get a more steady stream of funds to start and |
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sponsor key developers for full time development, and then also |
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when they are settled, to help more devs that actively contributing |
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to start working full time (you do want Gentoo to grow, etc right?). |
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It seems that nobody do realise that Gentoo the distribution, is |
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and will always be non-profit, but that Gentoo Games (or whatever) |
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will be a means to develop technology outside Gentoo Linux to |
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help sponsor devs for full time development. Not to give Daniel |
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or Seemant enough funds to buy a new house and a few Ferrari's. |
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The only reason for whining about this, and not wanting to understand |
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it, is in my opinion "just another zealot for no business with OS" |
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(Open Source). Do not understand me wrong, trying to back-stab people, |
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etc for own personal riches with OS is wrong. But is it wrong for the |
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people doing the actual work to want to do it without having to |
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worry about how they are going to get through this month with something |
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to eat ? |
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And just for those that was wondering - no, I have not received a single |
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sent, hardware or any other forms of compensation for my few |
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contributions to Gentoo. |
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Regards, |
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|
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-- |
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|
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Martin Schlemmer |
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Gentoo Linux Developer, Desktop/System Team Developer |
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Cape Town, South Africa |
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